What is claimed:
1. A system for supporting fluid transfer, fluid dispensing or fluid catching devices comprising in combination;
a base adapted to support a receptacle for collecting fluids from said transfer, disposing and catching devices;
first means disposed over said collecting receptacle to position one of small fluid containers or funnels so that when said containers or funnels are placed in said support means any fluid remaining in said containers or funnels can be collected in said collecting receptacle; and
second means adapted to support a pan shaped fluid catching device over said receptacle in a manner to permit said catching device to drain residual fluids into said collecting receptacle.
2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said collecting receptacle is a shallow pan.
3. A system according to claim 2 wherein a layer of granular absorbent material is disposed in said shallow pan.
4. A system according to claim 1 wherein said first means is in the shape of generally square prism having two wide long faces, two long narrow faces and two shorter narrow faces disposed vertically on said prism with one shorter narrow face of said prism disposed proximate said collecting receptacle and an opposite shorter narrow face containing a plurality of apertures to receive one of a spout portion of a funnel or a neck of a fluid container whereby said funnel andor said fluid container can be drained of residual fluids.
5. A system according to claim 4 wherein said second means comprises a hook shaped member fastened to opposite wide long faces of said prism proximate said shorter narrow face containing said apertures.
6. A system according to claim 4 wherein said face of said square prism opposite said face containing said apertures is slotted to receive and position said collecting receptacle.
7. A system according to claim 1 fabricated from a rigid plastic.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter for measuring, using an ultrasonic Doppler shift, a flow rate of fluid flowing inside a conduit, comprising:
ultrasonic wave transmissionreception means for transmitting to the fluid an ultrasonic pulse with an arbitrary pulse repetition frequency, and for receiving a resulting ultrasonic echo to extract a Doppler shift component through a predetermined process;
flow velocity distribution calculation means for calculating a flow velocity distribution of the fluid based on the Doppler shift component extracted by the ultrasonic wave transmissionreception means; and
flow rate calculation means for calculating a flow rate of the fluid based on the calculated flow velocity distribution of a predetermined integration range and a quantization error occurring to a spatial resolution.
2. The Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter according to claim 1, wherein the flow rate calculation means corrects the quantization error by consideration only the region of the integration range occupied by a channel at a starting position and a channel at an end position of the integration range.
3. The Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter according to claim 1, wherein the flow rate calculation means calculates the flow rate (Q) based on the following equation:
Q
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
\u2061
(
v
0
\xb7
r
0
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
0
\u2032
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
v
1
\xb7
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
+
v
N
\xb7
r
N
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
N
\u2032
)
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
v
0
\xb7
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
(
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
)
\xb7
v
i
+
v
n
\xb7
\u2062
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
where
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of a starting channel, (ri\xb7\u0394ri)\xb7vi is a flow rate conversion factor,
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of an end channel, and where v is the flow velocity of the respective channel, r is the distance from the center of the conduit to the center of the respective channel, \u0394r is the width of the respective channel.
4. The Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter according to claim 2, wherein the flow rate calculation means calculates the flow rate (Q) based on the following equation:
Q
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
\u2061
(
v
0
\xb7
r
0
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
0
\u2032
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
v
1
\xb7
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
+
v
N
\xb7
r
N
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
N
\u2032
)
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
v
0
\xb7
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
(
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
)
\xb7
v
i
+
v
n
\xb7
\u2062
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
where
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of a starting channel, (ri\xb7\u0394ri)\xb7vi is a flow rate conversion factor,
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of an end channel, and where v is the flow velocity of the respective channel, r is the distance from the center of the conduit to the center of the respective channel, \u0394r is the width of the respective channel.
5. A processor in a Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter for measuring, using an ultrasonic Doppler shift, a flow rate of fluid flowing inside a conduit, comprising:
flow velocity distribution calculation means for calculating a flow velocity distribution of the fluid based on a Doppler shift component as a result of a predetermined process applied to a reception signal of an ultrasonic echo, which is a reflection wave of an ultrasonic pulse provided into the conduit; and
flow rate calculation means for calculating a flow rate based on the calculated flow velocity distribution of a predetermined integration range and a quantization error occurring to a spatial resolution.
6. The processor according to claim 5, wherein the flow rate calculation means corrects the quantization error by consideration only the region of the integration range occupied by a channel at a starting position and a channel at an end position of the integration range.
7. The processor according to claim 5, wherein the flow rate calculation means calculates the flow rate (Q) based on the following equation:
Q
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
\u2061
(
v
0
\xb7
r
0
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
0
\u2032
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
v
1
\xb7
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
+
v
N
\xb7
r
N
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
N
\u2032
)
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
v
0
\xb7
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
(
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
)
\xb7
v
i
+
v
n
\xb7
\u2062
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
where
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of a starting channel, (ri\xb7\u0394ri)\xb7vi is a flow rate conversion factor,
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of an end channel, and where v is the flow velocity of the respective channel, r is the distance from the center of the conduit to the center of the respective channel, \u0394r is the width of the respective channel.
8. A method of computing a flow rate of fluid flowing inside a conduit in a Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter using an ultrasonic Doppler shift, the method comprising the steps of:
calculating a flow velocity distribution of the fluid based on a Doppler shift component as a result of a predetermined process applied to a reception signal of an ultrasonic echo, which is a reflection wave of an ultrasonic pulse provided into the conduit; and
calculating a flow rate of the fluid based on the calculated flow velocity distribution of a predetermined integration range and a quantization error occurring to a spatial resolution.
9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the calculation of the flow rate corrects the quantization error by consideration only the region of the integration range occupied by a channel at a starting position and a channel at an end position of the integration range.
10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the flow rate (Q) is calculated based on the following equation:
Q
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
\u2061
(
v
0
\xb7
r
0
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
0
\u2032
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
v
1
\xb7
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
+
v
N
\xb7
r
N
\u2032
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
N
\u2032
)
=
\u2062
2
\u2062
\u03c0
v
0
\xb7
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
+
\u2211
i
=
1
N
–
1
\u2062
(
r
i
\xb7
\u0394
\u2062
\u2003
\u2062
r
i
)
\xb7
v
i
+
v
n
\xb7
\u2062
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
where
(
1
2
\xb7
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
\xb7
(
r
0
+
r
1
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of a starting channel, (ri\xb7\u0394ri)\xb7vi is a flow rate conversion factor,
(
1
2
\xb7
(
D
2
+
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
)
\xb7
(
D
2
–
r
N
–
1
+
r
N
2
)
is a flow rate coefficient of an end channel, and where v is the flow velocity of the respective channel, r is the distance from the center of the conduit to the center of the respective channel, \u0394r is the width of the respective channel.
11. A storage device storing a computer program that contains codes for calculating the flow rate according to the method of claim 8.